Program budgeting and performance indicators

1. Program budgeting and performance indicators

2. Budget is a tool used for taking care of money before it has been spent, rather than after it has been spent. Voltaire 2

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4. Introducing program budgeting • Pilot users – 5 ministries since 2005 • Designing methodology for program budgeting, taking into consideration the experience of pilot users • Cooperation with budget users in the development of program structures and formulating of objectives and indicators • Establishing connection with strategic documents • Budget planning, approval and execution by programs since 2015 at all government levels 4

5. Why program budgeting (PB)? • Increased transparency and understanding of spending • Better prioritising of spending • Better spending performance 5

6. Example from the Budget Act of the Republic of Serbia – Line budgeting 27МINISTRY OF CULTURE AND INFORMATION 820 Cultural services 411 Employee salaries, allowance and reimbursements (earnings) 96,000,000 412 Social contributions incurred by employer 17,500,000 413 Reimbursements in kind 414 Social benefits for employees 415 Reimbursement of expenditures to employees 416 Premiums for employees and other special expenditures 421 Fixed expenses 7,000,000 422 Travel expenses 6,400,000 423 Contractual services 28,000,000 424 Specialised services 506,871,000 The funds of this appropriation are intended for the achievement of general interest within the domain of public information 425 Current repairs and maintenance 500,000 426 Material 5,500,000 451 Subsidies to public non-financial companies and organisations 1,000,000,000 462 Grants to international organisations 19,000,000 463 Transfers to other government levels 296,000,000 The funds of this appropriation are intended for the financing or co-financing of projects of indirect users of budget funds from units of local government 472 Social security reimbursements from the budget 324,000,000 6

7. Example from the Budget Act of the Republic of Serbia – Program budgeting 7

8. Program structure of a budget user Program 1 Program activity 1 Program activity 2 Program 2 Project 2 (capital project) Project 1 8

9. What does the program define? • Def 1: The program is a group of independent, but closely linked activities with a mutually desired outcome (socio-economic effect) • Def 2:The program is a consumption category focused on achieving the common result/objective • Def 3: The program is a group of activities carried out by the budget user in line with some of his/her key competencies • Large corpus of business processes and ministry expenses • The program does not have a set deadline (it includes both permanent and time-restricted activities) 9

10. Program activity (PA) • Program activity is the budget user’s ongoing activity whose performance enables the achievement of results/goals which contribute to the achievement of program results/goals. Program activities are identified based on the closely defined competences of budget users. • Types of program activities: • defining competences • inspections • provision of a public service • administrative operations • subsidies • grants • transfers • administration and management • budget reserve. • PA may also constitute a combination of the mentioned types 10

11. Project (P) A projectis a budget user’s business venture with a set deadline whose implementation enables the achievement of results/goals which contribute to the achievement of program results/goals. Special project types are capital projects and IPA projects. Project examples: • Construction of the Ljubovija-Bratunac bridge • Adaptation of the Museum of Contemporary Art • Establishing a unique IT system for inspections ”E-inspector” • Support to small enterprises in supplying equipment in 2015 11

12. Medium-termplans Budgetexecution Key Organisational of the bodiesand for the previous responsibilities structure sectoralstrategies year of the bodies Programs, program activities andprojects Defining program structure of a budget user 12

13. Guidelines for balanced program structure • Program no. – Ministries, 3 to 7 – Other budget users, 1 to 3 • Value of budget funds – Balanced according to programs – Value of programs below 5% of total user budget is not recommended • Number of program activities and/or projects per program is 2 to 10 • Number of goals – maximum 2 or 3 per program, project and program activity are recommended • Number of indicators – maximum 2 indicators per goal of the program, project and program activity are recommended 13

14. Joint programs of different budget users • Complementary competences of bodies • Inter-sectoral initiatives (e.g. public administration reform, fight against corruption, improving human and minority rights) which involve different budget users and for which substantial funds are allocated • Such programs are “exceptions to the rule” 14

15. Program budget and hierarchy of goals Increase life expectancy Sector Decrease disease X outbreak rate by 1% Program Increase the coverage of vaccination against disease X in children Program activity/ Project 15

16. Link between strategic planning and program budgeting 16

17. Key problems regarding implementation • Not including management in the working groups and the process itself • Lack of strategic documents • Lack of medium-term/strategic planning • Poor financial planning • No internal mechanisms for monitoring performance 17

18. Establishing indicators – process and roles • The Ministry of finance prepared Instructions for the preparation of program budget and carried out training for budget users • Certified instructors for program budgeting • Training of analysts within the budget sector • Process based on internal capacities with the help of consultants • A great number of workshops with budget users was held • Indicators defined in strategic documents and action plans were used as the basis • Two-way street – defining indicators in program budgeting has led to the improvement of quality in defining indicators in strategic documents 18

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20. Performance indicators • The achievement of goals is monitored using performance indicators • A goal is the expression of the objective that is being pursued, whereas a performance indicator measures the success of achieving that goal. • Types of indicators: • indicators of outcomes and outputs 20

21. Examples of outputs on the PA/P levels • Quantity: • Number of hours of patrol • Number of performed water analyses • % of digitised library content • Quality: • Average time from hospital admission to providing healthcare services • Average time of processing an application for issuing a building permit • % of content recipients of public service (based on the survey) • Efficiency: • Price per vaccine (including the service provision) • Price per processed application for issuing a building permit 21

22. Examples of outcome indicators • Share of traffic accidents resulting in deaths within the total number of traffic accidents in the road transport • Average student score in PISA testing • Average time of fire localisation and extinguishing • % of male and female rates of mortality caused by cardiovascular diseases • Percentage of appointed female ambassadors – gender-responsible component 22

23. Program management: reporting and evaluation • Frequency of reporting on performance? • Budget users are required to provide the government, National Assembly and the public with annual/semi-annual reports on achieved results of the program, program activities and projects •      A methodology was prepared for establishing the process of monitoring and reporting on achievement of goals and indicators • Periodical evaluations of the relevance of a certain program, program activity or project: internal or external (SAI) • It is necessary to establish adequate mechanisms of data collection and reporting, as well as responsibility structures which will ensure that the product of planning, monitoring and analysis  of results is a quality basis for making decisions regarding budget and management of operations of administrative bodies.  23

24. The content of the report regarding program performance • I Overview of allocated and spent funds by program, program activity and project, as well as the percent of execution  • II Overview of targeted and achieved values of performance indicators and reasoning for potential deviations • III Explanation of implementation of program, program activities and projects in relation to set objectives and allocations, i.e. spent funds. 24

25. Using information on performance • Internal – better management of funds and results: • points out to the management of a body which activities are implemented in line with the set objectives and financial plan, and which • do not enable identification of the area of non-efficient spending and reviewing the effectiveness of a program, program activity or project • In what way is it necessary to correct the implementation of activities and/or reallocate budget funds for the upcoming period, aiming at better results? 25

26. Using information on performance • External – better management of funds and results: • the data are used by the Ministry in charge of the financial operations, the Government and the National Assembly as part of the budget procedure • they help making decisions on priority areas to be financed and on the allocation of budget funds for the upcoming fiscal year • and they make sure the public has an insight into the results achieved through budget spending 26

27. General characteristics and indicators assessment • The quality of indicators depends on the area; in areas such as education, transport and healthcare, it is easier to define good indicators • There is room for further improvement of indicator quality • The most common issues related to defining indicators are: measuring issues and measuring costs, quality of verification source and establishing baseline values • Indicators with gender component are also introduced 27

28. Lessons learned • The definition of indicators is not meant to be done by financial services of budget users, rather it is necessary to include all competent services of budget users • Introduction of monitoring and reporting on the program performance increased the quality of and the commitment to defining indicators • Training, cooperation and continuous communication of budget analysts with the budget users is a key factor which has contributed to the increase in indicator quality • Based on the experience from the implementation, Instructions for the preparation of program budgeting are improved – program activities  for which it is not necessary to define indicators were defined 28

29. Challenges and plans • Further improvement of the indicator defining process • Better use of information on program performance and higher impact on allocation of funds • Greater responsibility for achieved results • More flexibility in decisions on spending funds with the aim of accomplishing planned values of indicators and achieving objectives • Further training of budget users and establishing the same quality of program information at all government levels, as well in funds of mandatory social insurance 29

30. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! 30